“Shedding Some Light” is a regular feature on the Opinions Page that will consist of our spin on local, state and national issues.
No guns for transgenders?
O ur country is full of issues and problems, and we typically turn to our leaders to try to solve them. That is part of their job after all. When it comes to guns — any kind of gun — we are fighting what appears to be an unwinnable battle, one that only resurfaces shortly after shootings like the one that took place in Minneapolis last month.
Our current president’s latest idea to curb mass shootings is to ban transgender Americans from owning a firearm. As we know, the shooter in Minneapolis was a transgender who identified as a woman. So obviously we have to keep transgenders from purchasing a gun, right?
This is the best we can come up with? Trump has a track record of making the lives of transgenders as difficult as possible. As if it’s not difficult enough to live that kind of lifestyle in this torn country, let’s make them the bad guys, or girls as it were.
President Trump last week issued a series of executive orders on the subject, including one barring transgender people from serving in the military. Now they can’t own a gun? Proponents of Trump’s idea say being transgender is a form of mental illness — it’s called gender dysphoria leading to the psychological distress and discomfort some feel when there is a difference between their assigned sex at birth and their gender identity.
Trump is picking really low fruit here. Yes, federal law requires a judge declare a person mentally “defective” before being stripped of their right to own a gun. No, just because a person is a transgender doesn’t mean he or she is going to light up a school or church. Tell us, what is the percentage of transgenders committing a mass shooting? This is the bullseye in the target? We strip transgenders of their Second Amendment right to possess a firearm? Sorry, not buying it. The net we cast to prevent mass shootings has got to be a lot larger than this. We might not ever completely stop them from happening in the future, but focusing on transgenders is nowhere near the answer.
• On a separate note, we applaud Trump’s decision this week to sign a memorandum to direct his administration to revive a 1990’s policy that is likely to restrict prescription drug ads on TV. The policy change could put a big dent in revenue for Big Pharma, but let’s be honest — who really cares about them?
